Remembering Salvatore: A Family’s Fight for Care, Hope, and Change

Honoring the Life of Salvatore Colella --- As Told by His Sister, Caprice Palumbo

My brother Salvatore was so much more than the crisis that took his life. He was a son, a brother, and a person who was deeply loved by his family. He had a life, a future, and people who wanted nothing more than to see him get the help he needed.

In the months before his death, our family watched Salvatore experience a severe psychiatric and substance use crisis. We saw the warning signs. We saw the hallucinations, the significant changes in his behavior, his substance use, and the way he was losing the ability to recognize the severity of what was happening to him.

We tried to get him help.

We called. We advocated. We showed up. We repeatedly shared what we were seeing with healthcare providers because we knew Salvatore. We knew who he was before the illness took hold, and we knew that something was seriously wrong.

But despite our efforts, we felt our concerns were not fully heard or incorporated into decisions about his care and discharge planning.

Salvatore’s journey through the healthcare system was not one isolated event. It was a series of moments where our family hoped the next encounter would finally lead to the care and support he needed.

In June 2024, Salvatore went to the Emergency Department and was treated and discharged.

In September 2025, our family brought him back for a behavioral health and substance use evaluation because we were deeply concerned. We shared what we were seeing. Records documented reports of little sleep and substance use involving crack cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine. Detox resources were offered.

In October 2025, Salvatore experienced an overdose. He was found lethargic in a parking lot and required Narcan. He was hospitalized for approximately three days and treated for serious medical complications, including opioid intoxication, fentanyl and cocaine use, metabolic encephalopathy, aspiration pneumonia, intravenous drug use, and acute kidney injury.

Still, the cycle continued.

On December 19, 2025, Salvatore experienced a severe mental health crisis. His behavior had become increasingly concerning. Medical records described agitation, bizarre behavior, yelling, contorting movements, diaphoresis (excessive sweating), and significant changes in his mental state. He had lost touch with reality and believed that flying squirrels were attacking him.
After initially leaving one emergency department before being transferred, Salvatore was later transported to CHA Everett, where he was hospitalized under a Section 12 psychiatric hold for further psychiatric evaluation and treatment.
We hoped this would finally be the turning point.

But after discharge, our family continued to see that Salvatore was struggling. We continued trying to get help. We continued advocating. We believed he needed more support and that he was still unable to recognize the severity of what he was experiencing.

On January 7, 2026, less than two weeks after his psychiatric hospitalization, my brother Salvatore died from an overdose.

He was 36 years old.

His death changed our family forever. But it also exposed the urgent need to change how Massachusetts responds to individuals experiencing severe mental illness and substance use disorders.

We knew Salvatore. We knew the changes we were seeing. We knew this was not simply a matter of choices—we knew he was struggling with an illness that was impacting his ability to understand what was happening to him.

We tried everything we could to save him.

That is why I founded FACT (Family Informed Care Act) advocacy efforts in Massachusetts. No family should have to fight this hard to be heard while trying to save the life of someone they love.

Families must be recognized as essential partners in care. The information families provide matters. Their concerns should be heard, documented, and considered. Crisis response and discharge planning must improve.
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People experiencing severe mental illness and substance use disorders deserve a system designed around treatment, continuity, and compassion—not one that waits until a crisis becomes a tragedy.

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Salvatore’s story also demonstrates the cost of a system built around crisis response rather than prevention and treatment.

Based on the documented emergency department visits, ambulance transport, overdose hospitalization, substance use treatment needs, and psychiatric hospitalization, the cost of Salvatore’s care is conservatively estimated to have exceeded $75,000–$150,000. This estimate does not include all emergency responses, Section 35 attempts, outside hospital encounters, detox efforts, or the full cost of his final hospitalization.

Yet despite this significant investment of healthcare resources, Salvatore and his family did not receive the coordinated continuum of care needed to help him stabilize and survive.

This is the reality of the current system: Massachusetts continues to spend substantial resources responding to emergencies after someone reaches crisis, while failing to consistently provide the ongoing treatment and supports that can prevent those crises.
The cost is financial. It impacts healthcare systems, taxpayers, communities, and families.

But the greatest cost is human.

It is measured in lives lost, families forever changed, and opportunities for recovery that were never realized.

Treatment saves lives.

Neglect costs.

The question is not whether Massachusetts can afford to provide timely, compassionate, evidence-based care for people living with severe mental illnesses. The question is how much more we can afford to lose by continuing to delay it.

Every person living with a severe brain disease deserves access to care, dignity, hope, and the opportunity to be well.